The invention concerns a cap provided with dispenser, particularly suitable for being applied to bottles containing liquids such as cosmetics, liquid soaps. shampoos, tanning creams or alike.
The present description illustrates only one kind of use among many of the cap object of the invention.
The market offers caps for containers of liquids like cosmetics, shampoos or creams, the operation of which essentially consists in the fact that the cap itself comprises a liquid dispenser that can be operated by the user. One of the known caps, for example, is provided on its top with a hinged plastic insert with a hole and with horizontal axis, so that when the insert is in horizontal position the liquid cannot flow out of the bottle, on the contrary, when the insert is in vertical position the hole present on the cap bottom and in contact with the bottle neck is connected to the channel present on the vertical insert, which makes the liquid flow out of the bottle. As the bottom of this insert is cylindrical and rotates on a likewise cylindrical surface where the liquid outlet is provided, when the cap is closed the seal is ensured. The limitations of the just described cap consist in the fact that both hands are necessary to open and close the dispenser, one hand to hold the bottle and the other to operate the rotary insert.
Another kind of cap, used in the cosmetic sector, comprises an essentially cylindrical body with a vertical hole and a practically disc-shaped upper element. A lower pipe for conveying the liquid is connected to the hole present on the cylindrical body. The upper element is hinged to the cylindrical body and is capable of rotating of a given angle due to the fingers' pressure. When the upper element is in horizontal position, it keeps the small pipe belonging to the central body, out of which the liquid should flow, closed. When, on the contrary, the upper element is pushed by the finger and is positioned obliquely the small pipe belonging to the central body and the channel present in the rotary element are connected with each other.
Whereas this kind of cap can be opened and closed with one hand only, by simply grasping the bottle, on the other hand it presents the drawback that it is not suitable for dispensing liquids with low density, since the seal of the whole system is not guaranteed and therefore the liquid may flow out of the container even when the cap is closed, or it may also flow out of the rim between the cap body and the rotary element.
Another cap is known, which was meant to eliminate the above mentioned drawbacks and which was patented in Italy on Apr. 17, 1992 and registered with n 1233820.
This cap is characterized by an improved seal, which however is not safe in any condition of use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,359 discloses a plastic cap for dispensing liquid wherein the dispensing element rotably connected to the main body of the cap presents a socle with a semi-soft resilient plastic material molded into one of the abutting arcuate surface for the purpose to improve he seal of said cap.